Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has been fined $25,000 for publicly criticizing the referees, the NBA announced on Sunday. Steve Kerr guested on San Francisco's KNBR 680 on Thursday last week. The show's hosts, former NBA player Tom Tolbert and John Lund, together with Steve Kerr, were discussing about the travelling issues that has plagued the NBA for years and how the referees just keep on missing calling them.
Steve Kerr used the opportunity to voice out his opinion that eventually turned into a rant. The game in question with regards to Steve Kerr's rant is the Golden State Warriors game against the Toronto Raptors last Wednesday night. The Warriors won that game 127-121. One play in particular really triggered Steve Kerr's rant and that was when Toronto Raptors All-Star shooting guard DeMar Derozan took four steps to get to the basket and all three referees didn't blow their whistle.
"Speaking of which, did you enjoy the DeMar DeRozan foray to the rim last night?",Steve Kerr asked. "How is it that everybody on earth can see these traveling violations except for the three people that we pay to do the job? I don't get it." Steve Kerr even said that with so many traveling calls missed by the referees, he could compile a "blooper reel of plays".
Knowing Steve Kerr, he's not one to let this pass without inserting a joke during his rant. He told the show's hosts that his favorite part is when 1,000 fans are all doing the traveling signal at the same time in the background whenever a visiting team commits the violation and the referees missed it.
This isn't the first time that Steve Kerr has raised the issue on missed traveling calls by the referees. There's Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals last season between the Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder. The referees missed a crucial traveling call on Russell Westbrook late in the game. The Oklahoma City Thunder won that game.
Then there's that game in March between the Golden State Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs, which the Spurs won. Guard Danny Green of the San Antonio Spurs got away with a travel on his way to a crucial basket late in the game.
But in spite of all the issues, Steve Kerr was also quick to point out that he's not biased with his comments. He said that his players "travel all the time, too".
